Media, technology & democratic society in Africa | ED @CJIDAfrica | @DubawaFacts & @officialDAIDAC | PhD-ing in Media & Platform Studies
🌎
- Tweets 44,799
- Following 5,688
- Followers 25,979
- Likes 34,816
Pinned Tweet
If you are still in university, my advice is to waste some time intelligently.
I mean it.
Take a course that has nothing to do with your degree. Join a student organisation. Try journalism and see if its something you’d like to do. Learn to code and discover you hate it. Volunteer somewhere. Start a small business that fails. Help organise an event. Contest an election if that is your thing. Go and sit in a lecture in another department. Make friends with people studying things you know nothing about.
University is one of the few periods in life when you can try many things badly without the consequences being too expensive.
Once rent, family, career and other responsibilities arrive, experimentation becomes more costly.
So experiment now.
But please don’t spend four years only experimenting either. At some point, start paying attention to the clues.
What do people repeatedly come to you for?
What do you seem to understand faster than others?
What kind of work can hold your attention for hours?
What have you done that made you think, I could actually become very good at this?
Follow those clues and start building some depth.
And before you graduate, have something outside your transcript that you can point to.
Not 27 certificates from webinars. Something you actually did.
Maybe you wrote five really good articles. Built a small app. Ran a business. Analysed a dataset. Led a student organisation well. Produced a podcast. Worked on a research project. Managed a campaign. Built a community. Interned somewhere and left evidence that you were useful.
Anything.
Just don’t arrive at graduation with a CV whose entire argument is: “I went to university.”
And while doing all of this, learn to respect process.
Don’t be in too much of a hurry to skip the boring parts. Sometimes you need to write the first bad draft, sit through the long meeting, do the internship, prepare the spreadsheet, organise the logistics, get corrected and do the work again.
There is a lot you only learn by actually doing the work.
You discover how things work, how people make decisions, where you are weak, what you are unusually good at, and why some things that look easy from the outside are actually difficult.
I think we sometimes want the outcome without spending enough time in the process that produces it. But that process is often where the real learning happens.
It is in doing the work that we mine gold.
Also, meet people.
Not the forced “networking” where everyone is trying to collect important people’s phone numbers. Build actual friendships. Your classmates will scatter into different industries, countries and institutions. Ten years from now, the person sitting beside you in an economics class may know something or someone you need, and vice versa.
Read too. Please read.
You have access to a university library and more intellectual freedom than you may have again for a while. Don’t spend all of it on TikTok and lecture notes.
And don’t panic because somebody in 300 level already has a startup, 14 certificates and “Founder & CEO” in their bio.
You are allowed not to have your life figured out at 21.
The goal is not to graduate with a perfectly designed career.
It is to leave university more curious, more capable, with some evidence of what you can do and a slightly better idea of where your abilities might take you.
And please enjoy university too.
Life will become serious soon enough.
#YouWillNotFail
17
228
674
59,820
Pius! Ah, this genuinely made my day. ❤️
Four years later, you still remember that post? Wow!
Thank you for sharing this. I’m glad those words found you when they did. And I hope life has been kinder to you since then.
As for the 50 shawarmas, I will hold you to that promise! 😂❤️
One day in 2022, I was frustrated. I was working for a Nigerian news outlet and I was just poor (financially) and this means I’d not be able to fund stories or have them produced.
I remember that day, it was a Sunday and I had just returned from Church. I sat in my room, feeling clueless. Then came the message. I was doomscrolling through Facebook when I stumbled upon a fantastically written piece of encouragement that ended with #YouWillNotFail OMG! That was the spark.
The rest is history. @olorunwababs you will not fail! 😩😩😩🙏🙏🙏🙏
50 Shawarma for you!
1
4
457
The news that Rest of World is shutting down raises important questions about the sustainability of nonprofit journalism, particularly organisations dependent on philanthropic funding.
Established in 2020 with substantial financial backing, RoW set out to report on how technology is transforming societies outside the West. It built an impressive body of journalism, gained international recognition and created opportunities for reporters in underrepresented regions.
So, what happened?
We do not yet know the full circumstances behind the decision, but I am particularly interested in the relationship between funding, audience reach and how philanthropic organisations demonstrate impact.
For commercially funded newsrooms, declining traffic can directly affect advertising revenue. For nonprofits supported by philanthropy, the relationship is more complicated. Falling readership may affect how funders perceive their investment, but it does not necessarily mean an immediate loss of revenue.
This raises questions about how we measure the impact of public-interest journalism. How much weight should audience numbers carry compared with reporting that influences policy, public understanding or institutional accountability? A story reaching a relatively small audience can still contribute meaningfully to public debate or regulatory change.
Funding concentration is another concern. When an organisation relies heavily on one benefactor or a few donors, its future becomes closely tied to their priorities and willingness to continue supporting the work. Substantial funding offers little long-term certainty if those commitments change.
Rest of World produced journalism that would have been difficult to finance commercially. Its uncertain future should encourage deeper conversations about funding models, governance and how we understand editorial impact.
I hope its search for a new institutional home succeeds. We still need journalism that examines how technology affects societies beyond the world’s major technology centres.
Ultimately, how do we build media institutions with financial and governance structures that can withstand changing audiences, technologies and donor priorities? This is especially important in emerging markets, where journalism serves a critical public good, but the willingness and ability of audiences to pay for it are often limited.
2
6
1,123
There’s another side to this conversation on application strategy; the right scholarship depends on your qualifications, experience and career plans.
I explored this in today’s letter, alongside five more scholarship opportunities you can explore.
Read here: olorunwababs.substack.com/p/…
#YouWillNotFail
If you are ever applying for a fully funded scholarship like Chevening, please aim to go to top schools like Oxford, LSE, Cambridge or Sussex.
You have an option to choose three schools, don’t under sell yourself by picking 3 low-tier schools. Please pick at least one top school, one mid level school and one low-tier school. It is the same effort and if you get the scholarship, you will be funded anyway.
#Youwillnotfail
6
40
2,011
Oh wow! This is so beautiful to read. Congratulations on both scholarships! I am glad you took that chance on Cambridge and that it worked out. Thank you for coming back to share this. I hope your story encourages someone else to give themselves a chance too. ❤️
I saw this your post in 2023 and I decide I must try Cambridge. I did and I got MCF scholarship for Cambridge and Commonwealth Shared. I went with MCF.
Don't under sell yourself, go for it if you have what it takes.
1
20
866
After 19 months, I am writing letters again.
This week, I am sharing 20 scholarship opportunities, five a day, with eligibility, deadlines and application links.
Too many people apply for the scholarship everyone is talking about instead of the one that fits them.
First five 👇
I am thinking of bringing back the #YouWillNotFail newsletter this month, and I plan to write one letter each day for the next week.
Four of the letters will cover twenty major scholarships, five at a time: who each one is for, what it covers and when it closes.
On Friday, I will share what it took the three Mastercard Foundation Scholars I hosted yesterday, from Cambridge, Edinburgh and McGill, to win.
Would you read it? Subscribe here:
open.substack.com/pub/olorun…
1
13
70
2,137
Deloitte again? 😂
The Western Australian Government paid AUD 166,000 for a university merger report. It came back with fabricated references and financial figures that do not add up. Deloitte admits using AI.
This follows a similar scandal in 2025.
What exactly are clients paying consultants for if even basic fact-checking is missing? 🤔
1
1
5
824
If you are ever applying for a fully funded scholarship like Chevening, please aim to go to top schools like Oxford, LSE, Cambridge or Sussex.
You have an option to choose three schools, don’t under sell yourself by picking 3 low-tier schools. Please pick at least one top school, one mid level school and one low-tier school. It is the same effort and if you get the scholarship, you will be funded anyway.
#Youwillnotfail
7
46
407
32,796
I am thinking of bringing back the #YouWillNotFail newsletter this month, and I plan to write one letter each day for the next week.
Four of the letters will cover twenty major scholarships, five at a time: who each one is for, what it covers and when it closes.
On Friday, I will share what it took the three Mastercard Foundation Scholars I hosted yesterday, from Cambridge, Edinburgh and McGill, to win.
Would you read it? Subscribe here:
open.substack.com/pub/olorun…
1
3
22
2,782
Form closed with 592 registrations. Joining link will be sent in the next hour.
Look forward to seeing you all later today. Our speakers are ready to share what worked for them so you can learn from their experiences and apply the lessons to your own applications.
#YouWillNotFail
Want to study at Cambridge, Edinburgh or McGill on a Mastercard Foundation Scholarship?
Tomorrow, three scholars from these universities will share how they secured funding, navigated eligibility requirements and prepared competitive applications.
📅 Oct 24 | 6–7:30 PM WAT
📍 Zoom | FREE
Register via the QR code. #YouWillNotFail
2
7
562
I was telling a colleague yesterday that when you lack depth in a subject, AI can mess you up. It will make you sound like an idiot in the most beautiful and convincing way, and you may never even realise it. I think that is more dangerous than not using AI at all.
1
4
534
There are so many Joes out there, and stories like this remind us why we need to broaden access to educational opportunities and support systems so that more young people can get a fair shot at life. Who knows what Joe and thousands of others like him could become if given the opportunity? I really hope he gets the support he needs to complete his education.
I stopped at a canteen to have some amala in Offa few days ago and a guy approached me.
I'm used to being approached everywhere and most times I even interject with "From social media abi?" once a stranger walks towards me in such manner.
"Sir, I know you? I was a student of the University of Offa and, last year, you came to our school to talk to us on career and encouraged us", the young man started.
He was wearing what appeared to be commercial okada rider jacket.
A few seconds of confusion. Do I have Twitter followers riding okada? This guy looks too polished to be an okada rider.
"I brought someone here", he added.
This looks like someone I need to have deeper discussion with so I gave him my Whatsapp number as I felt he was at the mercy of the passenger he brought.
Not in a hurry as I had thought as I still saw him after I settled at my table, so I asked him to grab a chair and let us talk the talk immediately rather than on Whatsapp later.
His story goes: He was an accounting student, and was encouraged by the career talk I had given last year and he had enrolled for ICAN ATS, passed stage 1 and expecting result of stage 2 he wrote recently. ICAN has 5-6 stages for ATS route (non-graduate route).
"So what happened? Were you rusticated?", I quipped, with each morsel of amala becoming heavier in my hand.
Then series of bombshells: He had lost both parents. He had been fending for himself almost all his life. He is in his mid 20s. He came to Offa from a nearby village five years ago, for NCE. He got admission into UniOffa as DE to 200L. He spent nights working at a poultry and days a student.
More bombshells: He dropped out in 300L when he could not afford school fees. He could not raise the school fees when he resumed 300L. The poultry work was stressful too. So he started doing okada.
More: His CGPA at the end of 200L was 4.0/5.0. A solid CGPA.
UniOffa school fee is less than N400k, one of the cheapest private universities in Nigeria.
ICAN is cheaper (less than N100k per diet?) but I told him immediately that that ICAN will be useless without a degree. He has to go back to school and complete the degree. Serious employer looks at your degree before your professional cert.
I'm on the Governing Council of the school (he didn't know - a surprise - and he probably thought I was just brought as an external speaker at that career event. And I didn't tell him.) I asked him to go back to the school and enquire whether he can resume the 300L that just started (his set are in 400L now but that shouldn't matter).
I have seen people struggle in life. Not the worst experience, but my mind kept flashing back. Someone is dropping out of school, from a brilliant 4-pointer accounting student to an okada rider because, all his life, he couldn't raise sub N400k. An amount some guys spend on a random night at a tier 3 club.
Touching.
Joe will finish that degree. In shaa Allah.
3
9
889
Want to study at Cambridge, Edinburgh or McGill on a Mastercard Foundation Scholarship?
Tomorrow, three scholars from these universities will share how they secured funding, navigated eligibility requirements and prepared competitive applications.
📅 Oct 24 | 6–7:30 PM WAT
📍 Zoom | FREE
Register via the QR code. #YouWillNotFail
4
23
65
2,675
It will be nice for a media organization to NAME and SHAME people in our society with no academic degree but call themselves DR. because of these 5k honorary degrees even after the ministry of education has issued a policy memo against it. If you are itching to be called a doctor, why not study hard and go get one?
4
16
1,740
Introducing ads into ChatGPT responses raises four concerns:
Where does advice end and advertising begin?
Will advertisers eventually influence responses?
How much of user conversations will be used to target ads?
Can users still trust the answers they get?
These are serious questions for a platform people increasingly rely on to make decisions. lol
4
7
604
Watching Kate Wyler in The Diplomat feels a little too personal. The constant exhaustion, juggling ten problems at once, being irritated by everyone, yet somehow still getting things done. That whole “I’m tired of this, but if I don’t handle it, who will?” energy is painfully relatable. 😂
Kate Wyler: The Woman Who Keeps It Together When Everything’s Falling Apart
After I wrote about Hal, people kept asking…..what about Kate?
Fair question. Because how do you talk about the hurricane without mentioning the woman who built the house that keeps it from blowing away?
Kate Wyler, played by Keri Russell in The Diplomat, isn’t written to impress you. She’s not the polished “Madam Ambassador” with a rehearsed smile. She’s perpetually tired, often irritated, and always two phone calls away from another international headache. And yet, somehow, she gets it done. Every time.
There’s something deeply relatable about her brand of exhaustion. She’s that person at work who has ten fires burning, one coffee left, and still manages to send a perfectly worded email while wondering why she ever agreed to this job. Honestly, Kate is every overworked professional trying to save the world while replying, “Sure, let’s circle back,” to a colleague who just created another crisis.
What I love about Kate is that she doesn’t hide the mess. She’s in the thick of global politics, balancing diplomacy, betrayal, and a marriage that feels like a cold war; yet she still finds time to question if she’s any good at it all. There’s no pretense, no performance, just a woman doing her best in a system that constantly demands more.
She’s not calm; she’s composed under pressure. Not detached, just strategic. And unlike Hal, she doesn’t need to dominate the room. She just quietly fixes what everyone else broke and moves on, with that half-smile that says, “you people exhaust me.”
But here’s the thing: I also think Kate was too reckless. The make-out in Dennison’s office and that whole situation with Callum were too risky for an ambassador of her stature. For someone who’s usually so calculated, those moments felt impulsive. She also tends to trust too easily: sharing too much about her private life in a space where every word is currency. In diplomacy, that’s not just unwise, it’s dangerous.
And it made me wonder: how much of diplomacy looks like this in real life? How do real ambassadors separate the personal from the political when both bleed into each other daily? The show exaggerates, sure, but it also reveals something true: behind every headline or policy is a human being trying to balance loyalty, ego, love, and duty, often all in one day.
That’s what makes Kate so fascinating. She’s brilliant, but flawed; powerful, but painfully relatable. Watching her navigate that balance between control and collapse feels like watching anyone trying to hold it all together (career, relationships, reputation) without losing themselves in the process.
Kate Wyler reminds me that strength doesn’t always roar. Sometimes it sighs, checks its inbox, and shows up anyway.
I have just finished the third season of The Diplomat, and I think it’s only fair to reflect on Kate too; for what she represents: the grace and grit of holding it together when no one even notices you are the one holding it at all.
If I have time, I might do a full review of the show. Until then, what do you think of Kate?
1
2
7
837
Wrote this about Hal Wyler last year; a good time to bring it back how that #DiplomatSeason4 is out!
Hal Wyler: The Brilliant Chaos We Can’t Look Away From
For those who may not know him, Hal Wyler is a fictional character in Netflix’s The Diplomat, played by Rufus Sewell. He is the husband of Kate Wyler, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.K., and a former high-ranking diplomat himself — witty, manipulative, charming, and occasionally infuriating. The show paints him as both a political genius and a walking storm, the kind of man who can solve an international crisis yet create one at home.
There’s something magnetic about Hal Wyler. He’s the kind of man who speaks in half-sentences yet somehow finishes your thoughts for you. Sharp, persuasive, and devastatingly self-assured — the room always bends a little when he walks in. But beneath that confidence lies the insecurity of someone who’s terrified of becoming irrelevant.
And honestly, Hal is the kind of man who would give you life-changing advice, ruin your day by lunchtime, and still manage to convince you it was for your own good. He has the charm of someone who’s read every book, won every argument, and still somehow lost every relationship. You’d block his number and then call him the next day because he’s probably right again.
Hal reminds me of Harvey Specter, another master of control, charm, and chaos. Both men live in a world where power is currency, and emotional detachment is a survival skill. They know how to win, but not always how to coexist. They love deeply but perform it badly. For Hal, every conversation is a chess game; every relationship, a subtle negotiation for dominance.
He is what happens when genius meets ego and refuses to make peace with aging, partnership, or vulnerability. You want to hate him for his manipulative tendencies, for how he treats Kate like a mentee rather than an equal but then he will drop a line so sharp, so disarmingly human, that you can’t help but forgive him.
In many ways, Hal Wyler is a mirror of the political world he inhabits, elegant on the surface, restless underneath, and constantly negotiating between self-interest and genuine care. He’s a reminder that intelligence isn’t always wisdom, and that sometimes, the biggest battles are not on the world stage, but within the mind of a man who can’t decide if he wants to lead, love, or be loved.
It’s the third episode in Season 3 of The Diplomat, and I can’t help reflecting on this character, not just for who he is, but for what he reveals about all of us who live in the tension between brilliance and balance.
#Diplomat
2
5
824
Applying for the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship in 2027?
We have just released an 8-minute video from the Vantage Network Africa Scholarship Clinic explaining how to find the right programme and navigate the Erasmus Mundus catalogue.
🎥 Watch: youtu.be/hH0qjDcUuqw
More videos on writing a competitive statement of purpose and preparing your application are coming soon.
#ErasmusMundus2027 #VantageNetworkAfrica
Wow! 979 registrations for today’s Erasmus Mundus Scholarship Application Clinic! ❤️
We have now closed registration and sent joining details to those selected for the clinic.
Thank you to everyone who expressed interest.
Looking forward to another interesting and practical session this evening!
#VantageNetworkAfrica #YouWillNotFail
2
13
73
4,920
Since Nigeria’s National AI Strategy began to take shape, we have been working to advance AI adoption and responsible deployment across the media and civil society ecosystem.
Looking forward to sharing some of our experiences and contributing to the conversations at Build 2026 AI Conference this week.
7
32
869